DETAILED ACTION
Claims status
In response to the application filed on 02/06/2024, claims 1-15 are currently pending for the examination. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/06/2024 has been placed in the application file, and the information referred therein has been considered as to the merits.
Drawings
Drawing figures submitted on 02/06/2024 have been reviewed and accepted.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YUAN et al. (US 2024/0313846 A1) in view of Zeineddine et al. (US 2023/0198602 A1).
Regarding claim 1; Yuan teaches a method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station, a radio resource control message including at least one beam failure detection set information (See Fig. 4: at steps 410-416, the base station 402 may transmit a first beam failure detection reference signal 410 through an Nth beam failure detection reference signal 412 using a beam…, and a first new beam identification reference signal 416 through a Kth new beam identification reference signal 418 using a beam. ¶ [0099]);
determining whether beam failure for one or more reference signals included in at least one beam failure detection set is detected (See Figs. 4-5: at steps 420-422, the set of beam failure detection reference signals 408 may include two beam failure detection reference signals (e.g., N=2)…the UE 404 is configured with a set of beam failure detection reference signals 522 including a first beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS_1) 524 and a second beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS_2) 526.; ¶ [0101]);
identifying, in case that beam failure for the one or more reference signals is detected, at least one candidate beam reference signal based on a candidate beam set linked with a beam failure detection set in which the beam failure is detected (See Figs. 4-5: the UE 404 to configure with a set of new beam identification reference signals 414 (also referred to as a new beam identification reference signal set or an NBI-RS set) for purposes of selecting one or more candidate beams. ¶ [0102]); and
transmitting, to the base station, a beam failure recovery request message including information on the one candidate beam reference signal (See Figs. 4 and 5: At 426, the UE 404 may generate a beam report 428 including at least an indication of the partial beam failure. The UE 404 may transmit the beam report 428 to the base station 402… the beam report 428 may include a beam failure recovery medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (also referred to as a beam failure recovery MAC-CE). The beam failure recovery MAC-CE may include at least one field for indicating whether or not a partial beam failure has occurred (also referred to as a partial beam failure indication field). ¶ [0109-0110]).
Even though, Yuan teaches transmitting a beam report including beam failure recovery message on a signal (Yuan: ¶ [0109]), Yuan doesn’t explicitly provide transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal.
However, Zeineddine discloses transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal (Zeineddine: See Fig. 8, transmitting a MAC control element on a physical uplink shared channel comprising an indication of the third beam failure detection reference signal set, an indication of the candidate beam reference signal associated with the third beam failure detection reference signal set for the serving cell. ¶ [0115] and Zeineddine’s claim 13).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal as taught by Zeineddine to have incorporated in the system of Yuan, so that it would provide to enhance the support for multi-TRP deployment including: 1) identify and specify features to improve reliability and robustness for channels other than PDSCH (e.g., PDCCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH) ; 2) identify and specify QCL and/or TCI-related enhancements to enable inter-cell multi-TRP operations; 3) evaluate and/or specify beam-management-related enhancements for simultaneous multi-TRP transmission with multi-panel reception; and 4) enhancement to support high speed train (“HST”) single frequency network (“SFN”) deployment scenario. Zeineddine: ¶ [0061].
Regarding claim 2; Yuan in view of Zeineddine discloses the method further comprising:
Receiving from the base station downlink control information in response to the beam failure recovery request message (See Fig. 4: the base station 402 may further configure the UE 404 with a set of new beam identification reference signals 414 …and the set of new beam identification reference signals 414 may include reference signals configured to be spatially quasi co-located with a PDCCH DMRS. ¶ [0102]); and
monitoring a physical downlink control channel on a control resource set pool based on a transmission configuration indicator state corresponding to the at least one candidate beam reference signal after receiving the downlink control information and a plurality of symbols (Yuan: The base station 402 may receive a CSI report from the UE 404 and may use the information in the CSI report to update the PDCCH beam associated with the beam failure detection reference signal that is in a failure condition. ¶ [0147]), wherein the beam failure detection set is linked with the control resource set pool (Zeineddine: to improve robustness of a PDCCH transmission, a scheduling DCI may be repeated from two TRPs involved in a multi-TRP transmission. However, for PDCCH DM-RS in a CORESET, an antenna port QCL configuration may be on a per-CORESET basis. ¶ [0062]).
Regarding claim 3; Yuan in view of Zeineddine discloses the method further comprising in case that the physical downlink control channel is received, receiving, from the base station (Yuan: DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs), each REG including four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. ¶ [0075]), a physical downlink shared channel scheduled by the physical downlink control channel based on the transmission configuration indicator state corresponding to the at least one candidate beam reference signal (Zeineddine: The diagram 500 illustrates communication between a UE 502, a first TRP 504 (TRP A), and a second TRP 506 (TRP B). During a slot j 508 a first PDSCH repetition is transmitted from the first TRP 504 to the UE 502, during a slot j+1 510 a second PDSCH repetition is transmitted from the second TRP 506 to the UE 502, and so forth to a slot j+N 512 (e.g., N≤16) in which the first TRP 504 transmits a PDSCH repetition N to the UE 502. ¶ [0051]).
Regarding claim 4; Yuan in view of Zeineddine discloses the method wherein the beam failure detection set (Yuan: See abstract), the control resource set pool, and the candidate beam set are linked based on an index of the control resource set pool, and the control resource set pool is linked with at least one of one or more transmission reception points (Zeineddine: ¶ [0062-0063]).
Regarding claim 5; Yuan teaches the method wherein the beam failure detection set (Yuan: ¶ [0110]), the control resource set pool, and the candidate beam set are linked based on an identifier of the beam failure detection set, and the control resource set pool is linked with at least one of one or more transmission reception points (Zeineddine: ¶ [0062-0063]).
Regarding claim 6; Yuan teaches the method wherein the transmitting the beam failure recovery request message comprises:
transmitting, to the base station, a scheduling request on a physical uplink control channel resource linked with the beam failure recovery set in which the beam failure is detected (See Fig. 4: if a UL grant from the base station 402 allocates a number of resources to the UE 404 for transmission of a payload on the PUSCH, and the number of allocated resources is equal to the size of the payload, the UE 404 may still transmit the beam failure recovery MAC-CE (e.g., the beam failure recovery MAC- CE 600, 700, 800) on the PUSCH. ¶ [0150]);
receiving, from a base station, an uplink grant in response to the scheduling request (Yuan: if a UL grant from the base station 402 allocates a number of resources to the UE 404 for transmission of a payload on the PUSCH. ¶ [0150]); and
transmitting, to the base station, the beam failure recovery request message based on the uplink grant (Yuan: if the UE 404 is allocated resources on the PUSCH for transmission of a payload and the number of padding bits (also referred to as zero padding bits) on the PUSCH is less than the size of the beam failure recovery MAC-CE, the UE 404 may still transmit the beam failure recovery MAC-CE with the payload. ¶ [0150]).
Regarding claim 7; Yuan teaches a terminal of a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising: a transceiver; and a processor, the processor configured to:
receive, from a base station, a radio resource control message including at least one beam failure detection set information (See Fig. 4: at steps 410-416, the base station 402 may transmit a first beam failure detection reference signal 410 through an Nth beam failure detection reference signal 412 using a beam…, and a first new beam identification reference signal 416 through a Kth new beam identification reference signal 418 using a beam. ¶ [0099]);
determine whether beam failure for one or more reference signals included in at least one beam failure detection set is detected (See Figs. 4-5: at steps 420-422, the set of beam failure detection reference signals 408 may include two beam failure detection reference signals (e.g., N=2)…the UE 404 is configured with a set of beam failure detection reference signals 522 including a first beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS_1) 524 and a second beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS_2) 526.; ¶ [0101]);
identify, in case that beam failure for the one or more reference signals is detected, at least one candidate beam reference signal based on a candidate beam set linked with a beam failure detection set in which the beam failure is detected (See Figs. 4-5: the UE 404 to configure with a set of new beam identification reference signals 414 (also referred to as a new beam identification reference signal set or an NBI-RS set) for purposes of selecting one or more candidate beams. ¶ [0102]); and
transmitting, to the base station, a beam failure recovery request message including information on the one candidate beam reference signal (See Figs. 4 and 5: At 426, the UE 404 may generate a beam report 428 including at least an indication of the partial beam failure. The UE 404 may transmit the beam report 428 to the base station 402… the beam report 428 may include a beam failure recovery medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (also referred to as a beam failure recovery MAC-CE). The beam failure recovery MAC-CE may include at least one field for indicating whether or not a partial beam failure has occurred (also referred to as a partial beam failure indication field). ¶ [0109-0110]).
Even though, Yuan teaches transmitting a beam report including beam failure recovery message on a signal (Yuan: ¶ [0109]), Yuan doesn’t explicitly provide transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal.
However, Zeineddine discloses transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal (Zeineddine: See Fig. 8, transmitting a MAC control element on a physical uplink shared channel comprising an indication of the third beam failure detection reference signal set, an indication of the candidate beam reference signal associated with the third beam failure detection reference signal set for the serving cell. ¶ [0115] and Zeineddine’s claim 13).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal as taught by Zeineddine to have incorporated in the system of Yuan, so that it would provide to enhance the support for multi-TRP deployment including: 1) identify and specify features to improve reliability and robustness for channels other than PDSCH (e.g., PDCCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH) ; 2) identify and specify QCL and/or TCI-related enhancements to enable inter-cell multi-TRP operations; 3) evaluate and/or specify beam-management-related enhancements for simultaneous multi-TRP transmission with multi-panel reception; and 4) enhancement to support high speed train (“HST”) single frequency network (“SFN”) deployment scenario. Zeineddine: ¶ [0061].
Regarding claim 8; Yuan in view of Zeineddine discloses the terminal wherein the processor is configured to:
Receiving from the base station downlink control information in response to the beam failure recovery request message (See Fig. 4: the base station 402 may further configure the UE 404 with a set of new beam identification reference signals 414 …and the set of new beam identification reference signals 414 may include reference signals configured to be spatially quasi co-located with a PDCCH DMRS. ¶ [0102]); and
monitoring a physical downlink control channel on a control resource set pool based on a transmission configuration indicator state corresponding to the at least one candidate beam reference signal after receiving the downlink control information and a plurality of symbols (Yuan: The base station 402 may receive a CSI report from the UE 404 and may use the information in the CSI report to update the PDCCH beam associated with the beam failure detection reference signal that is in a failure condition. ¶ [0147]), wherein the beam failure detection set is linked with the control resource set pool (Zeineddine: to improve robustness of a PDCCH transmission, a scheduling DCI may be repeated from two TRPs involved in a multi-TRP transmission. However, for PDCCH DM-RS in a CORESET, an antenna port QCL configuration may be on a per-CORESET basis. ¶ [0062]).
Regarding claim 9; Yuan in view of Zeineddine discloses the terminal further comprising in case that the physical downlink control channel is received, receiving, from the base station (Yuan: DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs), each REG including four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. ¶ [0075]), a physical downlink shared channel scheduled by the physical downlink control channel based on the transmission configuration indicator state corresponding to the at least one candidate beam reference signal (Zeineddine: The diagram 500 illustrates communication between a UE 502, a first TRP 504 (TRP A), and a second TRP 506 (TRP B). During a slot j 508 a first PDSCH repetition is transmitted from the first TRP 504 to the UE 502, during a slot j+1 510 a second PDSCH repetition is transmitted from the second TRP 506 to the UE 502, and so forth to a slot j+N 512 (e.g., N≤16) in which the first TRP 504 transmits a PDSCH repetition N to the UE 502. ¶ [0051]).
Regarding claim 10; Yuan in view of Zeineddine discloses the terminal wherein the beam failure detection set (Yuan: See abstract), the control resource set pool, and the candidate beam set are linked based on an index of the control resource set pool, and the control resource set pool is linked with at least one of one or more transmission reception points (Zeineddine: ¶ [0062-0063]).
Regarding claim 11; Yuan teaches the terminal wherein the beam failure detection set (Yuan: ¶ [0110]), the control resource set pool, and the candidate beam set are linked based on an identifier of the beam failure detection set, and the control resource set pool is linked with at least one of one or more transmission reception points (Zeineddine: ¶ [0062-0063]).
Regarding claim 6; Yuan teaches the terminal wherein the transmitting the beam failure recovery request message comprises:
transmit, to the base station, a scheduling request on a physical uplink control channel resource linked with the beam failure recovery set in which the beam failure is detected (See Fig. 4: if a UL grant from the base station 402 allocates a number of resources to the UE 404 for transmission of a payload on the PUSCH, and the number of allocated resources is equal to the size of the payload, the UE 404 may still transmit the beam failure recovery MAC-CE (e.g., the beam failure recovery MAC- CE 600, 700, 800) on the PUSCH. ¶ [0150]);
receive, from a base station, an uplink grant in response to the scheduling request (Yuan: if a UL grant from the base station 402 allocates a number of resources to the UE 404 for transmission of a payload on the PUSCH. ¶ [0150]); and
transmit, to the base station, the beam failure recovery request message based on the uplink grant (Yuan: if the UE 404 is allocated resources on the PUSCH for transmission of a payload and the number of padding bits (also referred to as zero padding bits) on the PUSCH is less than the size of the beam failure recovery MAC-CE, the UE 404 may still transmit the beam failure recovery MAC-CE with the payload. ¶ [0150]).
Regarding claim 13; Yuan teaches the terminal wherein the transmitting the beam failure recovery request message comprises:
transmitting, to a terminal, a radio resource control message including at least one beam failure detection set information (See Fig. 4: at steps 410-416, the base station 402 may transmit a first beam failure detection reference signal 410 through an Nth beam failure detection reference signal 412 using a beam…, and a first new beam identification reference signal 416 through a Kth new beam identification reference signal 418 using a beam. ¶ [0099]); and
receiving, from the terminal, a beam failure recovery request message including information on the one candidate beam reference signal (See Figs. 4 and 5: At 426, the UE 404 may generate a beam report 428 including at least an indication of the partial beam failure. The UE 404 may transmit the beam report 428 to the base station 402… the beam report 428 may include a beam failure recovery medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (also referred to as a beam failure recovery MAC-CE). The beam failure recovery MAC-CE may include at least one field for indicating whether or not a partial beam failure has occurred (also referred to as a partial beam failure indication field). ¶ [0109-0110]),
wherein the one candidate beam reference signal is identified based on a candidate beam set linked with a beam failure detecting set (See Figs. 4-5: the UE 404 to configure with a set of new beam identification reference signals 414 (also referred to as a new beam identification reference signal set or an NBI-RS set) for purposes of selecting one or more candidate beams. ¶ [0102]) in which beam failure is detected among one beam failure detection-reference signal sets, and beam failure detection set is detected based on one reference signal included in the beam failure detecting set (See Figs. 4-5: at steps 420-422, the set of beam failure detection reference signals 408 may include two beam failure detection reference signals (e.g., N=2)…the UE 404 is configured with a set of beam failure detection reference signals 522 including a first beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS_1) 524 and a second beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS_2) 526.; ¶ [0101]).
Even though, Yuan teaches transmitting a beam report including beam failure recovery message on a signal (Yuan: ¶ [0109]), Yuan doesn’t explicitly provide transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal.
However, Zeineddine discloses transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal (Zeineddine: See Fig. 8, transmitting a MAC control element on a physical uplink shared channel comprising an indication of the third beam failure detection reference signal set, an indication of the candidate beam reference signal associated with the third beam failure detection reference signal set for the serving cell. ¶ [0115] and Zeineddine’s claim 13).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal as taught by Zeineddine to have incorporated in the system of Yuan, so that it would provide to enhance the support for multi-TRP deployment including: 1) identify and specify features to improve reliability and robustness for channels other than PDSCH (e.g., PDCCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH) ; 2) identify and specify QCL and/or TCI-related enhancements to enable inter-cell multi-TRP operations; 3) evaluate and/or specify beam-management-related enhancements for simultaneous multi-TRP transmission with multi-panel reception; and 4) enhancement to support high speed train (“HST”) single frequency network (“SFN”) deployment scenario. Zeineddine: ¶ [0061].
Regarding claim 14; Yuan in view of Zeineddine discloses the method of claim 13, further comprising transmitting downlink control information to the terminal in response to the beam failure recovery request message, wherein a physical downlink control channel is monitored based on a transmission configuration indicator state corresponding to the at least one candidate beam reference signal on a control resource set pool after transmitting the downlink control information (See Fig. 4: the base station 402 may further configure the UE 404 with a set of new beam identification reference signals 414 …and the set of new beam identification reference signals 414 may include reference signals configured to be spatially quasi co-located with a PDCCH DMRS. ¶ [0102]) and a plurality of symbols to the terminal (Yuan: The base station 402 may receive a CSI report from the UE 404 and may use the information in the CSI report to update the PDCCH beam associated with the beam failure detection reference signal that is in a failure condition. ¶ [0147]), and the beam failure detection set is linked with the control resource set pool (Zeineddine: to improve robustness of a PDCCH transmission, a scheduling DCI may be repeated from two TRPs involved in a multi-TRP transmission. However, for PDCCH DM-RS in a CORESET, an antenna port QCL configuration may be on a per-CORESET basis. ¶ [0062]).
Regarding claim 15; Yuan teaches a base station of a wireless communication system, the base station comprising: a transceiver; and a processor, the processor configured to:
transmit, to a terminal, a radio resource control message including at least one beam failure detection set information (See Fig. 4: at steps 410-416, the base station 402 may transmit a first beam failure detection reference signal 410 through an Nth beam failure detection reference signal 412 using a beam…, and a first new beam identification reference signal 416 through a Kth new beam identification reference signal 418 using a beam. ¶ [0099]); and
receive, from the terminal, a beam failure recovery request message including information on the one candidate beam reference signal (See Figs. 4 and 5: At 426, the UE 404 may generate a beam report 428 including at least an indication of the partial beam failure. The UE 404 may transmit the beam report 428 to the base station 402… the beam report 428 may include a beam failure recovery medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (also referred to as a beam failure recovery MAC-CE). The beam failure recovery MAC-CE may include at least one field for indicating whether or not a partial beam failure has occurred (also referred to as a partial beam failure indication field). ¶ [0109-0110]),
wherein the one candidate beam reference signal is identified based on a candidate beam set linked with a beam failure detecting set (See Figs. 4-5: the UE 404 to configure with a set of new beam identification reference signals 414 (also referred to as a new beam identification reference signal set or an NBI-RS set) for purposes of selecting one or more candidate beams. ¶ [0102]) in which beam failure is detected among one beam failure detection-reference signal sets, and beam failure detection set is detected based on one reference signal included in the beam failure detecting set (See Figs. 4-5: at steps 420-422, the set of beam failure detection reference signals 408 may include two beam failure detection reference signals (e.g., N=2)…the UE 404 is configured with a set of beam failure detection reference signals 522 including a first beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS_1) 524 and a second beam failure detection reference signal (BFD-RS_2) 526.; ¶ [0101]).
Even though, Yuan teaches transmitting a beam report including beam failure recovery message on a signal (Yuan: ¶ [0109]), Yuan doesn’t explicitly provide transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal.
However, Zeineddine discloses transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal (Zeineddine: See Fig. 8, transmitting a MAC control element on a physical uplink shared channel comprising an indication of the third beam failure detection reference signal set, an indication of the candidate beam reference signal associated with the third beam failure detection reference signal set for the serving cell. ¶ [0115] and Zeineddine’s claim 13).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide transmitting on the candidate beam reference signal as taught by Zeineddine to have incorporated in the system of Yuan, so that it would provide to enhance the support for multi-TRP deployment including: 1) identify and specify features to improve reliability and robustness for channels other than PDSCH (e.g., PDCCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH) ; 2) identify and specify QCL and/or TCI-related enhancements to enable inter-cell multi-TRP operations; 3) evaluate and/or specify beam-management-related enhancements for simultaneous multi-TRP transmission with multi-panel reception; and 4) enhancement to support high speed train (“HST”) single frequency network (“SFN”) deployment scenario. Zeineddine: ¶ [0061].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhang et al. (US 2023/0046074 A1 to discuss the method and apparatus for determining information, method and apparatus for determining corresponding relationship, device, and storage medium).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAI AUNG whose telephone number is (571)272-3507. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, Alt Fridays, 7:30 AM- 5:00 PM (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached on 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SAI AUNG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416